Firearm grenade launching attachment



S. A. AMSTER FIREARM GRENADE LAUNCHING ATTACHMENT Oct. 20, 1970 2Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed NDV. 14, 1968 Oct. 2o, 1970I s, A. AMSTER 3,534,492

FIREARM GRENADE LAUNCHING ATTACHMENT Filed Nov. 14, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet2 United States Patent O 3,534,492 FIREARM GRENADE LAUNCHING ATTACHMENTStanley A. Amster, Pittsburgh, Pa., assignor to Federal Laboratories,Inc., Saltsburg, Pa., a corporation of Delaware Filed Nov. 14, 1968,Ser. No. 775,815 Int. Cl. F41c 27/06 U.S. Cl. 42-1 6 Claims ABSTRACT FTHE DISCLOSURE A grenade launcher for attachment to the barrel of arearm having a cylindrical grenade receiving chamber and a barrelclamping assembly in which a plurality of segments radially disposedwithin the clamping assembly are urged into clamping engagement with thebarrel by ring shaped clamps.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Where it is desired to launch a grenade suchas a smoke or tear gas grenade with some accuracy and over distancesbeyond normal throwing range, it has been known to propel the grenade bymeans of the expanding gases coming from a iirearm shell. For thispurpose, various attachments have been devised for the barrel of therearm which receive the grenade and direct the expanding gases at thebase thereof so that it will be ejected upon the firing of the gun.However, previously known devices have been restricted in their use tothe specific firearms for which they were made and could not accommodatea wide range of barrel sizes. In addition, they were extremely heavy andoften would not t on guns having a long ramp sight.

Accordin-gly, it is an object of the present invention to provide afirearm grenade launching attachment which will be versatile in itsadaption to a wide range of barrel` sizes easy to apply, insureconcentricity between the firearm and the attachment and not damage thebarrel of the firearm during use.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention consists of a cylindricalgrenade receiving member having a wall at the bottom thereof and open atthe launching end to receive the grenade, A irearm barrel clampingassembly is carriedwithin a reduced diameter portion of the housing andclamping engagement is achieved by means of plurality of radiallydisposed segments which extend through the Wall of the reduced portionand are carried in spaced longitudinal slits in said reduced portion.Two or more ring shaped clamps are provided around the reduced clampingportion and overlying the segments. The clamps are adjustable in suchmanner that tightening of the clamps causes the segments to grip thebarrel of the rearm and dispose it concentrically Within the attachment.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS :In the accompanying drawings, forming apart hereof there is shown one form of embodiment of the presentinvention in which drawings corresponding parts have been givenidentical reference numerals and in which:

FIG. 1 is a somewhat exploded isometric view of a complete embodiment ofthe present invention in which a fragmentary portion of the rearm barreland the grenade are illustrated,

FIG. 2 is an isometric view somewhat enlarged of a barrel graspingsegment according to the present invention,

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view taken on line 3 3 in FIG. l looking inthe direction of the arrows,

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view taken on lines 5-5 in FIG. 1 showingthe clamping assembly elements in a somewhat exploded state with two ofthe segments omitted for the sake of clarity,

FIG. 5 is a cross sectional view taken on line 5 5 of FIG. 1 looking inthe direction of the arrows illustrating the manner in which theclamping assembly grasps the rearm barrel,

FIG. 6 is a view in longitudinal section of a grenade launcher ready forfiring, made in accordance with the present invention,

FIG. 7 is an exploded view similar to FIG. 6 showing the deviceimmediately after ring.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to the drawings andparticularly to FIG. 1, 10 indicates a grenade launching attachmentadapted to be secured to a gun barrel 11. The launcher 10` is providedwith a hollow cylindrical grenade receiving housing 12 and a barrelclamping portion 13 of reduced diameter integral with said housing. Abottom wall 14 having a central opening 22 therein is spun into thebottom of the grenade receiving housing 12.

As shown in FIG. 6, the grenade 15 which may be of any type such as atear gas or smoke grenade, rests upon the bottom wall 14 when theattachment is ready for tiring. The trigger arm 23 of the grenade 15also tits within the housing 12 prior to tiring.

Three equally spaced segments 16 are carried by the clamping portion 13in such manner that they extend through spaced slots 17 provided in thewall of the housing of the clamping portion. The segments 16 also extendinto the interior of the housing. The inner ends of the segments 16 areprovided with elongated jaws 18. The elongated jaws are formed with anarcuate surface for the purpose of grasping the firearm barrel 11.Resilient pads 19 overlie the jaws 18 to prevent damage to the firearmbarrel 11 when the grenade launching attachment is clamped to the saidbarrel.

The outer end of the segments 16 are notched as indicated at 20 toreceive therein two ring shaped clamps 21. As best shown in FIG. 2, thenotches 20 are narrower at their outer ends to retain the clamps 21.This notched configuration prevents the segments 16 from falling intothe clamping portion 13 when the gun barrel 11 is not in place.

In assembling the clamping portion 13, the segments are slipped throughthe slots 17 as indicated in FIG- URE 4. With all of the segments inplace, the clamps 21 are threaded around the clamping portion 13 withinthe slots 20. The gun barrel 11 is then slipped within the resilientpads 19 as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, and the clamps 21 tightened thereon.It will be noted that the gun sight 24 of the iirearm barrel 11 isdisposed between two of the segments 16. It will also be apparent thatthe space afforded for the sight 24 within the clamping portion 13 issubstantial enough to receive firearms having long ramp sights. Becauseof the three sided support of the segments 16, the gun barrel 11 iscentered and brought into registration with the opening 22 in the bottomwall 14. With the launching attachment thus secured to the gun barrel asshown in FIG. 6, the grenade is ready for launching. A suitable blankcartridge is slipped within the firearms and red. The expanding gasesindicated -by the arrows 25 in FIG. 7 enter the bottom of the grenadereceiving housing 12 and eject the grenade in the manner shown in FIG.7. The safety pin (not shown) of the grenade having been withdrawn priorto firing, the well known spring mechanism ejects the trigger arm 23causing the grenade to discharge in the well known manner.

From the foregoing it will be seen that there has been provided agrenade launching attachment for firearms which is simple in structure,easy to apply to a Wide variety of barrel sizes and which willaccommodate guns with long front ramp sights.

Having thus fully described the invention, what is claimed as new anddesired to be secured by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A grenade launcher for attachment to the barrel of a firearmcomprising a hollow tubular housing, a cylindrical grenade receivingportion at one end of the housing, a barrel receiving portion of reduceddiameter at the y opposite end of the housing, a transverse wall havinga central aperture therein carried within the housing between thegrenade and barrel receiving portions, a plurality of spaced slots inthe barrel receiving portion of the housing, a barrel engaging segmentin each of the slots, said segment extending both within and without thehousing and at least one ring `shaped clamp overlying the segments andadapted to force them into securing engagement with the barrel.

2. A device according to claim 1 in which the segments 4 and the segmentreceiving slots are elongated and the segments are formed with elongatedarcuate shaped barrel receiving jaws.

3. A device according to claim 2 in which the segments are notched attheir outer margins to receive two spaced clamps therein.

4. A device according to claim 1 in which three equally spaced slotsreceive three segments therein whereby the barrel is brought intoregister with the wall aperture.

5. A device according to claim 2 in which the arcuate jaws are coveredby resilient pads.

6. A device according to claim 3 in which the clamp receiving notchesare narrower than clamp width at their outer ends and at least as wideas the clamp at their inner ends,

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3/1967 Cox. 5/1967 Barr.

